old camera stories

[Wolfgang]

wow. i just dropped my topcon re super off my desk onto the floor. it landed on the lens, bounced, and slid across the floor about 4 feet. and it still works perfectly . I just love how well old film slrs are built. if anyone else has any stories about the amazing strength of old (or new) slrs, id love to hear them.

 

[ChrisA]

if anyone else has any stories about the amazing strength of old (or new) slrs, id love to hear them.

I used to paddle white water canoes. I'd keep my Nikon Nikonos II tied to the canoe with a short length of rope. More than once I'd go over some drop and the boat would capsize and take a beating on the rocks in the rapids until it came to some calmer water where I could swim it to shore. The camera was exposed to the rocks and water too. It was never damaged. It was made of some very thick metal as it was designed to work underwater at a depth where the water pressure is about 6 or 7 atmospheres.

More info here
http://shutterbug.com/equipmentreviews/classic_historical/0503sb_classic/

I'd like to buy another one of these. Anyone got one?

 

[eRondeau]

I inherited this ancient German 35MM from my father, nothing electronic about it, but it probably had a lens to die for. It had this flash attachment that uses these fuzzy blue flash bulbs about 2" in diameter, flash once and then throw it away. Anyways about 20-years ago I was playing with it trying to take a picture of my model train set and I inserted the flash bulb in the holder and it went off in my hand. Burned like a son of a bitch! Nearly fused itself to my skin. That's when I switched to the Kodak 110 with the little rotating flash cube, they seemed relatively harmless.